Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-12

! an APPEAL FROM TIE VEST
THE GAZETTE publishes this m crnipg a
letter to Governor Ross from Mr.. j. n.
Browning, member of the Legislature
from the Panhandle district, which will
be carefully read by ell who feel any in
terest in the school land problem. For
several weeks mutterirgs OF discomfort
have been coming up from the west snd
northwest, where the school lands are
situated, in regard to the operations Of
the new land law, which Went INTO effect
July 4. We have had occasion Aoreto-
fore to notice these evidences OF public
disaffsction in the Panhandle on
account OF the management Ct
the school lands. Mr. Brown
ing's letter furnishes strong evidence Of
the justaess OF those complaints. His
recital Of the unsettled state of affairs il
the Panhsndle, growing out Of the doubt
and anxiety of the people as to the policy
to be pursued by the administration,
seems to demand al official declaration
OF that policy which viii set at rest ell
mischievous rumors and doubts and re-
store that confidence in the liberal de-
signs of the state, with reference to set
tlement, without which these lands must
forever remain undeveloped. The pres
ent administration, az Nj. Browning in
dicates, is too strongly committed
TO the policy Of settlement for the indul-
gence OF g doubt as to it's ultimate course.
To question its purposes would be 10 i'm
peach the sincerity OF Governor Ross, both
as to campaign and official utterances,
and no one, we think, is disposed to ques-
ton his good faith in this or any other
matter. Yet it is possible that the sd
ministration fails to realize the urgent
necessity for prompt and vigorous action.
The tide OF immigration which has
been flowing toward the west
promises to turn to 8 groundswel by
! the grace OF train Of favorable circum-
stances. Believing with good reason
that they are on the verge of an era OF
extraordinary development, it is not
strange that the people of the west
should view with alarm any indications,
however slight, of hostility on the part
of the administration to the settlement
of the country. To the state st large
this is matter of vital Importance; to
the citizens Of that section it means
much more, involving as it
does their Individual welfare. They
have settled in the west with the expecta-
tlon CT its speedy development. Few
people would endure the hardships Of
pioneer life unless they were animated
with such hope.
Mr.. Browning's letter is significant in
that it clearly outlines one phase of the
school land question, which has been re-
g&rded but little in the construction of
land laws. This is the existence of di-
verse and antsgoEistic interests in the
west which are contendipg with each
other for the faVors OF the
state and the control of the
school lands. The controversy which has
| been aroused ii tie Panhandle by tie
new law, and which at the outset is char
actorized by great bitterness, is between
the pasture interests on one side and those
who are anxious for the settlement OF the
large enclosures made in defiance of law
on the other. The first are endeaYoring
to steal a march, both on the state and
would-be settlers, by securing TO them
selves the extensive holdings illegally
obtained in the first in
stance by leasing them before
an opp ortunity is given the settler to
/ purchase a home inside their pastures.
1t is against the consummstion of this
project that Mr.. Browning protests, as
well as against any and all measures that
will have tendency to discourage settle
ment.
The general public will await with
almost as great interest as the Panhandle,
the answer of the administration to the
question, Whist are you going to do about
/ il?
Prohibition Divides a school.
NASHVILLE, TENN, Aug. 10.-Arllis